A Very Merry Crystalmas
by pandagirl7878
Summary: The holiday season comes to Rubrum, and cheer fills the halls of Akademeia. Cinque organizes a gift exchange for her classmates, but is it bound to go horribly wrong?


"Okay, everyone, draw a name!" Cinque held a bag for everyone in Class Zero.

Sice crossed her arms. "Cinque, you know King and I never do this shit, right?"

"Would you change your mind if Kurasame was participating?"

Sice thought about it for a moment, then stuck her hand in the bag and pulled out a name. She had to hold back from swearing when she read the name on the slip of paper. "Just my luck..."

"Remember, don't tell anyone! King?"

"No thanks."

"Fine... I'll pull it out..." Cinque dug through the bag and pulled out his slip of paper. "Anyone else want out?"

Cinque's question was met with silence. One by one, her classmates came up to pull names out of the hat.

"Alright everyone, don't tell anyone who you have! Remember to try and stick to the list they provided!"

Sice crossed her arms. "I don't have a list, though. Whoever has me, just get me something cool."

"Alright, happy shopping. Take it away, Kurasame!"

"Time for class, cadets. Please, take your seats."

* * *

"Look, I know Cinque said not to tell anyone, but I'd like to go shopping with you this weekend for something for Deuce." Rem met Machina in the back garden after class to talk with him.

"Well, good thing I didn't draw you, then!"

"We have our own traditions, it'll be okay now. Who did you draw?"

"Ace." Machina put his hand on his hip and looked at the back door to make sure no one was coming back here.

"Ooh. He should be fun to shop for." Rem sat down on one of the benches. "Cinque is so creative, she is."

Machina joined his friend. "Yeah. You know, I could stay here all afternoon."

"Me too."

As a light snow began falling over the garden, Machina wrapped his arm around Rem and pulled her close to him. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep back there, despite the slight chill.

* * *

"Oh my god... I CANNOT believe I drew grate-face for Cinque's gift exchange!" Cater flopped down on her bed.

"I can take care of all of your problems for a small sum of 70,000 gil!"

"You'd better be joking..."

"Yeah, yeah. Besides, don't you think it's nice to get gifts for your homeroom teacher? He does a lot for you!"

"Says the goody two shoes who bribes all of her teachers." Cater rolled over and looked at the ceiling. "What if I tried to get someone to trade with me?"

"That sounds like a great idea! Listen, I'll come with you to the Ready Room so we can grab some grub and try to get someone to switch!"

Cater stood up and gave Carla a high five. "Best roommates for the win!"

They left their dorm together, and ran towards their destination hand in hand.

The Ready Room was packed with other students. It took Cater and Carla a while to spot Queen, Nine, and Sice sitting at a table together in the back corner.

"Queen, you gotta help me. I need to switch names."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because that would mean breaking Cinque's rules."

"Buzzkill. Nine?"

"No way, yo! And it's not because I'm buying a gift for my crush, okay?" Nine turned his head away from Cater.

"OH MY GOSH! You got Rem?"

"What, how'd you know, yo?"

"You're constantly drawing little hearts that say N + R in chemistry! Everyone knows that you have a crush on her!" Sice chuckled. "I'll gladly trade, Cater. Who ya got?"

Cater showed Sice the piece of paper she had drawn from Cinque's hat earlier. "I'm not buying for him."

"Good. You can have this jackass." Sice slapped a piece of paper into Cater's hand after taking hers. Cater's eyes widened.

"You bitch..."

"He can't be that hard to shop for, just get him a book or something!"

Jack giggled from across the room. "You know guys, you should be a little quieter."

Queen slammed her book. "He's right." Queen then turned to Jack. You'd better not be trying to figure out who has your name!"

"Oh, I got it down to 3 people. Wanna know who pulled your name, Queen?"

"Not in a million years." Queen stood up and left the Ready Room.

"Okay, Jack," Sice crossed her arms, "who's got me?"

"Seven. I've got a little diagram if you guys want."

Cater took Jack's notebook from his hands and scanned it. "So... you don't know who Queen, Eight, and Deuce have... and then you don't know who has you, me, or Machina. Nice job. Eight'll probably accidentally spill it to me over our table tennis match tonight who he's got unless it's me."

"Kurasame got Cinque?" Nine pulled the notebook towards him. "And Ace has me? I hope he doesn't get me anything Chocobo related. I'm allergic, yo."

"He's smarter than that, Nine. How'd you find all this out?"

"Machina and Rem were talking in the back garden, Cinque trusts me wholeheartedly, and I'm a master of reading sneaky conversations and facial expressions."

"I hope grate-face makes Cinque happy or I'm gonna throat punch him."

"Do you want to end up in detention again?"

"That last time was not my fault. I just kinda wandered in there."

"Still can't believe Ace and Queen got detention. And I didn't know Rem hated math class that much."

Cater excused herself to get lunch, and then returned to continue talking about their upcoming plans for senior year.

* * *

"Hmmm... what to get Nine?" Ace stood in front of shelves filled with various sports equipment. He hadn't the slightest idea what would work. Nine had only put 'Sports Stuff' on his list.

Ace shook his head and turned to leave when he saw a familiar face walking down the aisles, or rather, skipping.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to shop for my friend Sevensy, hey!"

Ace walked over to see Cinque twirling her hair and skipping down towards the beauty department. "Hey, Cinque!"

Cinque stopped in her tracks and smiled when she saw him. "Acey! Doing some shopping too?"

"Yeah, but I'm coming up a little blank for Nine. What sports does he even play?"

"Like I remember… It seems like all of them. And watch it, you're not supposed to tell anyone!"

Ace winced. "Sorry… I just need some help…"

"I'm just joking… Mostly. Anyways, I remember that he broke his football when playing with King the other day. It just went POP! It was really loud and Tre-Tre didn't like it."

"Thanks, Cinque. Good luck with your shopping!" Ace ran back to the aisle he had been looking at.

* * *

"Jackie, we need to talk." Jack walked into Classroom Zero while talking to Deuce to see Cinque grumpily standing at the front of the room. "Queenie told me what you did. So, you're banned from the gift exchange immediately!"

"Aw, man…" Jack laughed. "Sorry, Cinque. Guess I was having too much fun breaking the rules."

"It's not nice to break the rules, Jack! But Cinque, won't that leave me without a name and whoever Jack drew without a gift?"

"Oh, yeah… Hmm…" Cinque thought for a moment. "Here's an idea! You take Jack's name!"

Jack reached into his back pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with the name "Eight" printed onto it in Cinque's fancy handwriting.

Deuce smiled. "Thank you! I'll make sure they get a great gift!" Deuce and Cinque sat down in their usual spots, gossiping with Cater. "So, did a lot of kids in Class Third do the same things Jack did?"

"Yeah, that's why we stopped…"

"That's sad. Well, I hope Jack's more of an outlier than the norm!"

"Me too!"

Cater sat down next to them. "How's it hanging?"

"Jack just got kicked from the gift exchange for telling people who had their name. I ended up getting his. Wanna go shopping after class?"

"Why not just cut class? Not like grate-face actually teaches us anything…"

"Because we all know the detention story, Cater! Rem dragged Queen out of class to help her buy a birthday present for Machina and they both got detention for it!"

"That's so unlike Remski…" Cinque looked over to see the doors open. "The Commander's here…"

* * *

Seven had the list practically memorized. She surveyed every poster in the room she and Sice shared, and was working through the button bins to find as many of the bands as she could. She had already bought a cute leather jacket at the thrift store, now it just needed accessories.

From a distance, she could hear two of her classmates, but she was too focused on her work to join them.

"I just don't get it, Trey! Me, get Cater? Is this some sort of sick joke on Cinque's part?" Eight struggled to carry the basket full of books that Trey was buying for Queen.

"I also find it quite disturbing. It's almost as if she knew who we had crushes on and manipulated the draw in such a way that we would pick their names. However, knowing Cinque, that possibility is almost next to nothing. A draw can only be manipulated so much. Nevertheless, we will find out tomorrow what everyone bought for each other."

"I heard Jack got kicked for telling Cater, Nine, and Sice who drew their names. How the heck did he pull off such a stunt?"

"I imagine he observed us, like he normally does. He does it a lot, actually. The things you learn when you're roommates…"

"Is Jack even remotely a good roommate?"

"He keeps the room clean and wears headphones when he listens to his rock music, so I cannot complain."

Eight's eyes scanned the shelves of video games. "Do you remember what games Cater likes again?"

"No… I only remember that she was playing some horror games with Sice during last month's game night. Did she have one on her list?"

"I don't think so…" Eight pulled out the paper to check. "Wait, nevermind." Eight reached for the last copy of the game on Cater's list.

"It never hurts to double check. Now, we'd better hurry if we're to wrap these presents before the party tomorrow!"

"Wanna race?"

"No thanks."

"Alright. What are you gonna do over Christmas break, then?"

* * *

Arecia held a worn storybook in her hands. It wasn't the first time she'd read the book to students, and she hoped that it wouldn't be the last. This spiral may have been one where Class Zero were not her children, but she still felt connected to them. The Class Zero cadets were mostly shocked, with the exception of Ace, who was happy to see his Mother.

"Mother! You're back!"

"Yes, hello Ace. Merry Crystalmas."

"You too. Are you going to read us the story? All of us?" Ace's eyes lit up.

"Yes, of course. I thought it might be a nice addition to Cinque's gift exchange."

When Kurasame arrived, he announced the start of the festivities, before bringing a gift to Cinque. She opened it to find a moogle plush inside.

"Commander! Thank you so much!" Cinque wrapped her arms tightly around him to give him a hug. The tonberry beside him perked up a bit.

"You're welcome. Have a good holiday break." Sice approached the Commander, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Here you go…" Sice was already wearing the new jacket with buttons of her favorite bands on it.

Kurasame took Sice's gift and sat down to open it. "I'm impressed. This is a great drawing."

Cinque looked at the drawing too. "It's all of us! In front of Akademeia! Where'd you learn to draw like that, Sice?"

"The Rubicus."

The three of them laughed it off. Seven joined them. "Sevensy! I have a gift for you!" Cinque passed her a bag.

"Thank you, Cinque." Seven opened the bag. "Ooh, I can't wait to try some stuff out with this."

"I didn't know you were into makeup, Seven." Sice crossed her arms.

"It's a hobby of mine, when I'm not being hounded by underclassmen."

"Well, I'm going to talk to Dr. Al-Rashia." Kurasame turned to see Jack and Nine standing at the front of the classroom, doing something to the punch. "Hey! You better not be spiking that!"

Jack and Nine backed away as Ace approached Nine with a gift. Nine eagerly opened it and was happy to see a new football. "Hey, King, maybe we can play a game before we leave!"

King just rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Ace, come here!" Ace turned to see Machina sitting next to Rem and Deuce. Deuce was already rehearsing the music from the book Rem bought her.

"What is it?"

Machina pulled a bag out from under his desk. "Merry Crystalmas, Ace. Hope you like it."

Ace opened the bag carefully, and found a chocobo plush inside.

"Don't worry now, Machina didn't name it." Rem joked, causing all four of them to laugh.

Queen, with as much poise as she could muster, walked over. "Ahem, Machina, I have this for you."

Queen set a gift on the desk, which Machina opened. "You didn't…"

Rem looked over Machina's shoulder to get a better look. Inside was the same exact gift Machina had bought for Ace.

"What a coincidence, Queen! Now Machina and I match!"

"I'm gonna name this one… Chichiri."

"That's actually a cute name! Better than "Bubbles", it is."

Nine joined a few minutes after Queen left to drop of Rem's gift. "Hope you like it, hey?"

Rem smiled and carefully opened the wrapping. Inside was a scarf that had a phoenix patch roughly sewn onto it. "It's adorable! Did you make it yourself?"

"Yeah… with a little help from Deuce and Queen on the patch."

"At least I won't freeze this winter, I won't!"

Nine smiled, and walked back over to Jack. Deuce excused herself, and went over to Eight, Cater, and Trey. Trey was trying to work up the courage to talk to Queen and deliver her gift, but Cater was reading the back cover of her new game.

"Wait, I got a gift for Trey!" Cater realized after finishing. She grabbed her gift and handed it to Trey. "Please, don't lecture me about this one until next March…"

Trey found a book on Archery inside. "Wow, Cater, you're very thoughtful. Thank you."

"No problem. Now, promise?"

Trey locked pinkies with Cater. "No lectures about Archery until March."

"Now, go give your gift to Queen!"

Trey picked up the stack of books, and Deuce held her gift out to Eight. "Merry Crystalmas, Eight!"

"A remote control helicopter? This wasn't even on my list!"

"Jack kinda wrote all over the paper, so I had to improvise. Do you like it?"

"Like it? I love it! I'm gonna play with this all break!"

Trey smiled, and walked over to Queen, who was busy reading another book from the Crystarium. "It seems you're almost done. Why not add a few more to your reading list?"

Queen picked up each of the books Trey had bought her and looked them over. "A dystopian trilogy… this looks like it'll keep me occupied for the next few nights."

Trey frowned slightly. "Oh…"

"Only joking. I saw you reading this series earlier this year. Maybe after break we can discuss it."

"Sure! Thank you, Queen."

"Any time." Queen pushed her glasses up to her face, causing the lenses to turn completely white for a moment.

As the chaos died down, Dr. Al-Rashia came to the front of the room. "Good morning, students. I have a story I'd like to read to you that takes place in a far off land in a time long ago…"

The students laughed and cried as she told the tale of 14 students like themselves. One that ended in tragedy, but a rebirth of the world they lived in.

"Wouldn't that be cool? Fighting monsters and protecting the dominion?" Seven asked.

"But… most of the students died in that story, they did." Rem frowned. "I can't imagine the amount of pain the other two must've felt afterwards."

"I hope the two other cadets got to live happily ever after, like in all those good fairy tales!"

Dr. Al-Rashia rose. "Well, I hope all of you enjoy your holiday break. I'll see you next school year. Please stay safe." She left the classroom, remembering the suffering they had been through the last time this day had come to pass. But this time, Tempus Finis would not come.

Her children deserved this, their happy ending.


End file.
